Materials:
1 ball Wool-Ease (3 oz)
4 dpns, size. 2
Pattern:
Cast on 45 st on 3 needles, 15-15-15.
Work K2, P1 rib for 3 1/2 in. K around for 1 1/2 in.
Heel Flap
K11 from needle 1, slip rem. 4 st to needle 2. Turn and P across needle
1, P11 from needle 3, slip rem. 4 st to needle 2. Needle 2 will be instep
needle (23 st).
Slipping first st. of each row, work flap in stockinette until 1 1/2 in. long or needed length for back of heel - about 15 rows. End with P row.
Turn Heel
Row 1: S1, K11, K2tog, K1, turn.
Row 2: S1, P3, P2tog, P1, turn.
Row 3: S1, K4, K2tog, K1, turn.
Row 4: S1, P5, P2tog, P1, turn. Continue in this manner, knitting or purling one more stitch before decrease in each row, until all st. are on needle 1. 12 st. should remain.
Gussets
Pick up 5 st. along side of heel flap and K onto needle 1. Twisting
each picked-up stitch as it is knit will minimize holes along the join.
K across needle 2 (instep). Pick up 5 st. along other side of heel flap and K. Needle 2 (instep) should still have 23 st., needles 1 and 3 should each have 11 st. Center of heel will be beginning of rnd.
Foot - K around until 5 in. from bottom of heel *at gusset* (not from back of heel).
Decrease for toe
Rnd 1: Needle 1- K to last 3 st, K2tog, K1; Needle 2- K1, SSK, K to last 3 st, K2tog, K1; Needle 3- K1, SSK, K to end.
Rnd 2: K around. Repeat these 2 rnds until 15 st remain. Break off yarn and weave or graft together to finish toe.
Grandma generally continued the K2, P1 rib across the instep stitches until she got to the toe shaping. I tend to like it better with plain stockinette all the way around the foot, but either way works, of course.
For a size 6 1/2 M foot (mine, for instance), I'd cast on 48 st. and adjust where appropriate. With an even number of stitches you of course have the option of K1, P1 rib. You can also make the ankle as long as you like, though if it's too much longer you may need a second ball of WE. Most of the sox Grandma knit for us had cuffs in one color and feet in another. Often one of the yarns was variegated. I don't know if she was using up leftovers, or if she just liked the look. She's been gone 30 years now.
I've done these sox for my boys, too, (size 3 foot - 9 years old) in RH worsted. For their sox, I cast on 36 on the size 2 dpns, worked ribbing for 3 in., and changed to size 4 dpns for the foot. I K 10 rnds before the heel flap, stockinette for 1 1/2 in.; turning the heel resulted in 10 st. on needle 1. I picked up 4 st. on each side of the heel flap, and knit around until foot was 6 1/2" from *back* of heel (note this is different from the sox above). The toe shaping worked the same. The RH worsted is a noticeably thicker strand than the WE - which necessitated the change of needles for the foot.
So far I've been able to get 3 socks out of a 3-oz. ball of WE Sprinkles, but only 2 socks (with a *little* ball left over) of the WE Heather.
Final note on sock wear: I've noticed that the WE heather seems to hold up better than the WE sprinkles. You might consider using a reinforcing yarn along with the WE if you really love the look of the sprinkles.